Struggling Bruins try to wring more offense from defense

Friday

The Bruins, who remain without offensive catalyst Patrice Bergeron, hope their reinvigorated defense corps can make up for some lost production.

This hasn’t been very good, but it’s as good as it’s going to get for a while longer.

That’s not a very promising combination for the Bruins as they enter a set of games on consecutive nights that starts with Saturday’s home date against the Maple Leafs (7:05, NESN, WBZ-FM 98.5), followed by Sunday’s visit to the Senators (5:05, NESN, FM 92.9).

So less than 48 hours after holding their own, but not enough else in Thursday’s 3-2 loss to the NHL-leading Lighting in Tampa, the B’s face the league’s No. 2 team -- just in time to see young stud center Auston Matthews continue to find his footing after a 14-game injury absence, while star-in-the-making William Nylander plays his second game after a 6-year, $41 million extension convinced him to end a contract stalemate that ate the first two months of the season.

The Bruins have recently welcomed back a couple of reinforcements of their own, but the big names they’re missing -- center Patrice Bergeron and defenseman Zdeno Chara -- will likely remain missing for weeks. Bergeron (ribs, collarbone) is roughly 10 days from having his injuries re-evaluated, and Chara (knee) is due for another look in about a week.

The B’s have broken even (4-4-1) in the nine games Bergeron and Chara have both missed, but they’ve recently showed signs of breaking down. They’ve lost three straight in regulation entering Saturday’s game, with a lack of offense the primary cause. The Bruins have scored two goals or fewer in eight of the last nine, and a power play humming at 30.8 percent with Bergeron distributing pucks from the bumper position is at 16.7 percent since he left.

Perhaps ironically, coach Bruce Cassidy is hoping a reinforced defense corps can help boost the offense.

“We need a little bit more there,” the coach said after Thursday’s defeat. “We’ve talked about that on a regular basis.”

Charlie McAvoy is the primary hope. The second-year defenseman returned on Thursday after missing 20 games with a concussion, and while the layoff was evident, he’s the Bruins’ best blue-line option when it comes to moving pucks forward quickly and creatively.

“That’s my game,” said McAvoy, who registered three shot attempts against the Lightning, but also had to take a penalty after fanning on a pass and committed two other turnovers. “When I’m playing my best, I’m joining (rushes), trying to make offense out of defense … I thought I did that, in ways, (Thursday). Second and third period, I thought I kind of came together and started playing my brand of hockey.”

The Bruins, top-heavy offensively before Bergeron got hurt, anticipated a drop in production as a suitable center was found to play between his wingers, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak. That search has been frustrating, largely fruitless (Marchand is 1-3--4 in the last nine games, Pastrnak a little better at 3-4--7), and compounded by the fact that virtually no other lines or forwards have picked up the slack: The second-line duo of David Krejci (3-17--20) and Jake DeBrusk (10-2--12) showed some spark, but Cassidy has recently taken to putting Krejci between Marchand (7-17--24) and Pastrnak (20-12--32) for large chunks of games, so DeBrusk has gone dry for the last five games.

Beyond those top four active scorers, not a single forward has scored more than five points through the Bruins’ 28 games. The defense corps hasn’t been wildly productive, either, but as McAvoy, Torey Krug (12 assists in 17 games, after missing 11 with an ankle injury) and Brandon Carlo, who has played the last three after missing nine (upper body injury) grow their games back, Cassidy hopes his forwards can at least get them more pucks to put on goal.

“We’ll keep trying to drill that message home,” Cassidy said. “That’s an area of our game offensively, when you’re not scoring on a regular basis, that can be really productive.

“You want (forwards) to attack the net, but if (opponents are jamming it up, you’ve got to go to the open player, which is usually the defenseman. That’s where we’ve got to build off (puck possession), and find a better balance.”

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